5 Coffee Shops for a Day of Productivity

Because sometimes we just need to turn a coffee shop into our new office.

While we don't exactly encourage laptop squatters, sometimes it's helpful to spread out at a table for an entire day and bust out some business. Here are five coffee shops around Seattle that are great for hunkering down and getting your work done:

The self-proclaimed oldest espresso bar in Seattle is almost always bustling with UW students. The studious vibes seem to rub off on you upon entering the bright shop from an ivy-covered brick alleyway off of University Way and 42nd street NE. There is almost always a table available inside the shop, but there is also a rooftop area with more seating on busier days. Free wifi available. Open until 10pm everyday

After owner Solomon Dubie purchased an old convenience store and transformed it into a coffee shop that brought Ethiopian coffee traditions to the Emerald City, his Rainier Valley cafe is now a friendly space to refuel. Order a waffle, gyro, or chicken wings to go along with your jebena, an Ethiopian method of brewing coffee, and sit at the bar at the window as you work through your day. 6:30am-8pm Monday through Friday, 8am-8pm Saturdays

Anchorhead already had its cold brew products in coffee shops all over the Pacific Northwest before it decided to open its first location in CenturyLink Plaza this past September. The café serves hot espresso drinks, farm-to-table pastries (like quaffles!) provided by local Salmonberry Goods, as well as a rotating selection of beer and wine with plenty of seating options like leather-topped stools, rolling office-style chairs, and a pair of teal leather couches. If you ask them, the baristas behind the low bar will tell you everything you want to know about their local products, as well as their free wifi password. Open 6:30am-8pm everyday

Anchorhead has its own line of coffee concentrate, used for iced lattes, mochas, and other specialty cold brew concoctions like a whiskey barrel aged cold brew and one made from Ethiopian whole beans.

Whether you have a large amount work to do or not, this is the kind of coffee shop where you might go because genuinely like being there. It's the kind of place that won't make you feel bad for a solo-occupation of the small, two-person tables or for snoozing on the leather couch by the window. As the name implies, this friendly Capitol Hill space deals in caffeine and music. Who can argue against sipping on a cup of Herkimer coffee and then perusing an eclectic collection of vinyls? Add in a Mighty O donut and being surrounded by a rotation collection of local artworks, and you might never want to leave. Open 7am-8pm on weekdays, 8am-6pm on weekends

The four Seattle-area locations have three themes in common: lots of lighting, plenty of workspace, and sleek interiors. The flagship location in Greenlake almost has more windows than walls and a sea of wooden tables to turn into your new desk; the U-District shop offers baked-in-house pastries. The most recently-opened South Lake Union space has a family-sized table carved from the trunk of a tree to really sprawl your stuff out while the Kirkland café has a giant analog clock to help keep you on task. Hours vary by location.